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16th Group 1 winner for Exceed And Excel

Darley stalwart Exceed And Excel (Danehill) sired his second consecutive winner of the Coolmore Stud Stakes (registered as Ascot Vale Stakes) (Gr 1, 1200m) as the Chris Waller-trained September Run (3 f ex Pittsburgh Flyer, by Street Cry) emulated Exceedance’s victory 12 months ago with a decisive victory in the coveted Group 1 and in the process became the son of Danehill’s (Danzig) 16th top-flight winner. 

Last seen winning the Poseidon Stakes (Listed, 1100m), the three-year-old filly powered home to beat Swats That (Shamus Award) by a length and three-quarters. Wild Ruler (Snitzel) was another neck away in third. 

“You’ve just got to keep trying things,” Waller said from Rosehill.

“She was just a step below the Sydney fillies in her first up run and I thought, how are we going to get back on the board?

“So we sent her down there and she’s created her own legacy. She’s a very good straight horse.”

Blue Gum’s Phil Campbell said he was over the moon with the result. 

“She’s a bloody ripper. She just keeps improving, she’s now won those three in a row in emphatic fashion, she runs good time, she’s just a great filly,’’ Campbell said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s one thing to sell them well but what keeps people coming back to buy them year after year is if they race well.

“We’ve had an amazing run of late and that today was just the icing on the cake.’’

The win gave Waller his fourth Coolmore Stud Stakes and his first with a filly after previous triumphs with Japonisme (Choisir) (2015), Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) (2014) and Zoustar (Northern Meteor) (2013).

Purchased by Hermitage Thoroughbreds for $380,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale from the Blue Gum Farm draft, September Run is the first foal out of Group 3 winner Pittsburgh Flyer (Street Cry), who is herself out of South African Grade 2 winner Warning Zone (Elliodor). 

Further back this is the family of Grade 1 scorers Record Edge (Sunny North) and Golden Peak (Peacetime), Grade 2 winner Magical Wonderland (What A Winter), Grade 3 winners Dance At Daylight (Rambo Dancer) and Magico (Dupont) and Listed scorer Mr Mickey Mouse (Muhtafal). 

Pittsburgh Flyer’s filly by American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) was purchased by Hirsch Racing for $100,000 at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale and after missing to Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) in 2018, she was covered by the son of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) again last year. The mare herself was a $500,000 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale purchase in 2018 by Go Bloodstock Australia and Paul Moroney Bloodstock. 

The filly becomes the third stakes winner bred on his cross, joining Signora Queen and Promotions.